COLUMBUS, GA.- Drawing on the rich holdings of the Hoole Special Collections Library at the University of Alabama, this exhibition will feature a selection of maps that chart the development of the Chattahoochee Valley over the course of five centuries. On display will be maps from the Hoole Library as well as the Columbus Museums growing collection, ranging from a rare 1593 depiction of North America to an oversized 20th-century rendering of Muscogee County. The Hoole Library contains one of the strongest and largest collections of maps of the southeastern United States, many of which portray areas of Georgia and Alabama in significant detail. In addition to highlighting the art of the mapmaker, this exhibition will chronicle the transition of this area from Native American population center to our modern environment.

Enabled by recent advances in computing technologies, cartographers are finding that the traditional limitations and hindrances of the field are rapidly and steadily fading away. Computer-assisted cartography reduces project and reproduction times; facilitates an ease of data manipulation and visualization; and creates a setting where the cartographer can more easily move his ideas to digital form. In a talk to be given by Dwight D. Lanier, he will examine these modern cartographic techniques and methods; how they relate to their historical counterparts; and also how they have given rise to new limitations of their own. A portion of this talk will also be devoted to how humans have used, interacted with and interpreted maps in times both past and present.

Dwight D. Lanier is a Cartographer and Geographic Information Science (GIS) professional at Gainesville State College in Oakwood, Georgia. Mr. Lanier's experience with mapping and cartography began in the U.S. Marine Corps where he worked as a Geospatial Intelligence Specialist. In this position he deployed twice overseas providing geospatial support for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq following September 11, 2001. After the military he studied GIS, cartography, and remote sensing at Gainesville State College and the University of Georgia with an emphasis in techniques and applications.